Life is Strange: Overexposure
by Runningfromthestorm
Summary: Maxine's life is in ruins... just like Arcadia Bay should be. She feels it, but she doesn't know why. Alone and in pain she finds herself in Arcadia not as she knows it, and life has been changed forever- Changed by the actions of one vain girl... and the life she forced Maxine to take, and left to pick up the pieces. Yet fate may have a greater destiny planned.
1. Chapter 1: Landslide

Maxine loved days like today.

School was out, the homework was done, and goddamn did it feel good to just relax. Her HI-FI quietly sung to itself as Max breathed free a plume of smoke, and fell back onto her bed with a gleeful pur as that delightful haze settled about her head. Ah, this was the life. Seattle had nothing on this.

"Aw, Maxine, I thought you could puff a little bit more than that" Victoria playfully chided, Maxine merely rolled her eyes and flipped her off.

"You got me" she announced with a tiny wry curl of her lip, taking just a few extra moments to hover in that feeling before she sat up on the bed "I'm secretly a huge lightweight; call Juliet, alert the Totem, the people must know!"

"Lets not. But you know, I kind of always suspected" Victoria winked as she reached out, gently taking the bong Maxine offered her as she smiled dumbly at the girl. By the power of Grayskull that was some strong stuff... but then again, Nate could always get the good shit; it was straight-to -head tingles every time. Heck yes. "But maybe don't phase out on me just yet, loser. Don't let a girl get blazed on her own"

"Oh, wouldn't dream of it" Maxine watched as Victoria took a deep lungful, sat there on the floor surrounded by their project photos. It was always good to be here like this with Vic, they did it almost every day; the perks of living opposed to one another.

The days could be such a drag at Blackwell... well... when she wasn't in Mr. Jefferson's class that was. Talk about a heart throb with talent.

Maxine grinned a little, her eyes travelling Vicky softly; there were only two ways that Maxine knew so far that were guaranteed to silence the Queen Bee, and that was when she was toking up or sat giving somewhat overly enthusiastic heart eyes at Mark. Mark. How familiar. Maxine's cheeks warmed slightly... not like he was ever going to notice her, Victoria though? Maybe.

Victoria's head tilted back as her lips formed a small O, letting smoke rise up that long neck and slowly pool in the air above her before letting out a satisfied and dreamy hum. Maxine couldn't help but laugh, but her eyes never left Vicky... just staring at the pixie haired blond. Was her neck always so long...? It's practically Swan-like, I mean look at tha- Oh. Eye contact. Wait, eye contact? SHIT.

Maxine's gaze sharply flew to Lisa with a nonchalant pop of her lips. Yes, Lisa. A plant so dead by this point it was little more than an effigy to bad parenting. So casual, much cool, Maxine. She could practically feel Vicky's smugness rising... she hated how much she liked that. It was almost challenging her.

"So, we're closing in on October... you know what that means?" Vicky handed back the pipe, the buzz plain in her giddiness.

"You're allowed to hide how sloppy drunk you get behind a mask?" Max smirked as Vicky squinted at her "Might be necessary after what you did to Taylor's dress last week... poor girl"

"It wasn't that bad, Maxine"

"She looked like a long lost Jackson Pollock... it was really quite beautiful, actually"

Maxine earned herself a shove in the shoulder that did little but force the laugh in her chest to roll free. Vicky wanted to be mad, she could see that, but the smile she was desperately trying to hide said it all. "Well, as much as I'd like something in a gallery, lets just forgo that little addition to the world of art and leave it in the dumpster where it belongs. Now take your medicine and I'll go on"

"I'm surprised its not in Wells' office, have you seen the state of that place?" Victoria barked a short laugh, and with a victorious smile Maxine lit up the bowl. Ah yes, Vicky had a point she was getting to!

Conceding to the Queen Bee's will, Chase's eye glimmered in approval as she recomposed herself. It didn't take long for her air of regal authority to return... even if it was undercut by a cloud of smoke blown into her eyes by Maxine's stupid grinning face. The fact they were smoking in the dorms still blew Maxine's mind, but, she was part of the Vortex now.

She was untouchable. Un-fucking-touchable.

"Anyway, it means two things. One, we hand in this project of ours and crush the losers in Jefferson's class to dust" A slim finger extended to tally, and Maxine nodded decidedly. Victoria was undoubtedly right "And two, it means... drumroll please..."

Maxine blinked, her brain not firing on all cylinders for a moment before she received an expectant look from Vic. Oh! Oh she wants me to- Drum, High Maxine, Drum! Immediately her hands began to drum against her knees and Victoria smiled with probably a little more warmth than intended. But Maxine noticed. She always did.

And as always it gave her those strange, long lost butterflies "It means that you, Maxine, are helping me and Nate set up the biggest Halloween party, like, ever"

Wait, what?

"Wait, what?" it was all she could actually muster and hope she didn't seem like too much of a uncool dork; Victoria's warm smile only grew "You can't be serious"

Maxine's heart was pounding. The music faded out, another song began to fade in.

 _Is this the real life?_

The world jerked, for an instant, out of sight... the flared edges of reality passing into peripheral like wild filmreel. What is this?

"I'm being totally serious, Max. I... me and Nate both want you with us to plan this out. You'll help right? Right...?" Maxine can hear the trepidation, but a headache like a hammer through glass silences her reply; she wants to reach out, but it hurts too much to move. Vicky's words begin to blur together and distort. The film begins to warp and bubble.

 _Is this just fantasy?_

"This is seriously the best view of the sunset... what do photographers call that?"

The words are colder than the wind she can feel abruptly through her hair, more intrusive than the faltering light in her eyes. Where was Victoria? She tries to call out, but her mouth won't respond.

She has been here before, the dead whales bring it all back. She doesn't want to be here again.

"The Golden Hour" The words come in her voice, but she isn't speaking them. This was all wrong, she shouldn't be here... But she can see her, haloed in that precious light; looking at her hurts and comforts all at once. The air was in flux and yet inert around her, and Maxine could almost see her with blue hair; the fact she sees strawberry blond and not ceruelean is more disturbing than it should be.

What is this? No this isn't right, this isn't me. This isn't me!

"See, without you here I'd have no clue. I bet you could take some amazing shots..." Within she's screaming, screaming words a mouth will not form and fighting a body no longer listening, clawing at the flesh of her prison; trying to get to the girl. Not again, please not again.

"Those beached whales are so sad... I kinda know how they feel" Maxine pounded, cried as she beat and rattled the cage of her body. Seperated from the world but planted firmly it. Aware- but that was all. This couldn't be happening.

"Please just go, don't look back! Get away from me, I'm not who you think I am! Please!" These words silently cycle over an over, spinning in her mind like a tornado. Her wheelchair bound friend doesn't hear them, of course. All she hears are _her_ words. Maxine wants to vomit. Wants to tear herself apart.

 _Caught in a Landslide..._

"At least, I'm alive here with you"

The heart monitor breaks the silence, a low flat beep piercing the quiet... suddenly she can move. Suddenly she's sat beside her best friend, only she isn't there anymore. She's sleeping forever and not even the scream of a despairing mother, nor the howl of a horrified father can rouse her. Their arms seize Maxine, swallow and choke her, the blackness that envelops her shrinks as it burns away to scorching ivory.

"Don't forget about me..."

 _No escape from reality._

But this isn't my reality.

"Chloe!" Maxine yelled as she startled back to reality, greeted to the smell of cat piss and rust that she had apparently become accustom to. She dared only peek at the world, lest her sensitive eyes simply explode from the weak light filtering into the hideout- Hideout? Yeah... yeah that felt right.

Fortunately, the hideout looked better than it smelt.

Wearily Maxine turned in her ragged blanket, trying to ignore the incredible ache in her lower back from sleeping on the hard stone floor. She was so tired and all she wanted was to just dream, to really dream. To go back to memories where things were good, where they made sense... but she couldn't.

Not here. Not in this shithole.

There wasn't much to this little den of hers... but it felt like home for some rhyme or reason. Safe. Sparse walls with no character, a few bits of trash strewn about, but it was warm despite the lack of a damn door. You would have to be homeless to want to call this pit a residence... so what did that make her? She didn't want to think about it... Victoria and Nate would be flipping out if they knew where she was.

They were probably flipping already.

"Dog... I need a shower" Maxine wiped sweat from her brow. These nightmares had been knocking her for six... the rare times they woke her up. But waking was getting easier now, so was being able to see too.

"Bad dreams again?" An older voice called out, derailing that train of thought. Maxine looked across as a figure appeared in the doorway, squinting through the dull sunshine to make out details in the blown out silhouette... damn her eyes. But she knew who it was. She'd heard the voice many times, in reality or dreams, she couldn't tell.

Maxine nodded; was it that obvious? She supposed it was the fact she was awake and not the cold sweat she was drenched with that gave her away "Well, don't you worry... one day, you'll find new things to dream about. Here, my friend in the Two Whales gave us some grub"

"Thanks, Ray" Maxine sat up with a groan, her back feeling as rusted as the cars outside the hideout, and the older woman cautiously sat herself down beside her before sliding over a hastily wrapped burger. Maxine's belly roared in an instant, as did a slither of guilt "Umm..."

"Don't you worry about me, child. I had a little something too..." with an encouraging wiggle of her fingers, Maxine needed no further prompting and began to tear into the meal. Oh my dog... Maxine had forgotten just how good a greasy burger could taste "They let me eat in the diner this time, seeing as the boss wasn't there. Figured you'd still be resting. You been up long?"

"No" Maxine said curtly between bites, and the older woman nodded, message received. Quietly they sat then as Maxine ate her food in peace, just trying to wake up. No more sleep, she had had enough of that, more than enough to last a lifetime.

Her thoughts wandered where they could, but the taste of the food drew her inexplicably to the Two Whales. Joyce could always cook up a storm; no one made food like that woman... Maxine smiled. She remembered the waffles, the coffee, and impressing Chloe. Dog, she really was blown away by the cockroach on the jukebox huh?

Wait, what? That didn't...

"Max?" The voice doesn't sound like the woman's, it sounds younger, more hopeful- almost. Yet it fills her with flash of annoyance "You alright?"

"Maxine" she was quick to correct, a tad too much venom in it "Sorry... but yes, I'm alright. Thanks for the food, well... for everything, I guess"

"It's no bother. Truthfully it's been nice to have the company" The air around those words tugged at Maxine's chest, her worn features softening "Even if you were sleeping for most of it"

Maxine actually chuckled, a weak thing. Ray simply smiled, those greying eyes briefly settled on Maxine before they floated beyond into the rows of broken cars and scrap. Was that the only reason she helped me? It felt terrible to wonder but, Maxine couldn't help it... people always wanted something, Nathan taught her that.

"How long have I actually...?"

"About three days, give or take... you were in an out a lot, not very lucid- actually, this is the most lucid you've been. Do you remember much?" Maxine merely shook her head, Ray sighed softly in resignation.

"What do you actually remember?" Pain. Unbelievable pain.

"I remember waking up in the rain... my eyes felt like they were burning out my face. My head felt worse, wowser... like there was a storm in there" just thinking about it made her groan with phantom aches. She wished she was high right about now.

"Yeah well, it wasn't just in your head, believe me. You picked a fine time to start wandering around blind. That freak storm that opened up had everyone running for shelter; it was a miracle I found you"

Yeah, lucky me. Maxine scrunched up the wrapping of her now demolished burger and tossed out the window; an annoyed meow signals the emergence of a black cat, it's head crowned in sesame seeds. Huh. So she hadn't been dreaming the cat after all. As it bounds away, Maxine blinks in realisation.

"Um... where did you actually find me?" She sees those faltering eyes, the only pair she could ever believe were worse than her own right now, settle on her "I uh... I don't really remember"

It was true, like almost all of these three days apparently, her grasp on events was poor to say the very least. All she could remember was the pain, and running against the wind.

Then she was here.

"You were passed out by the road, head to foot in mud... looked like you'd been running through the woods for awhile. I was coming here to avoid the rain, and there you were curled up outside the gates"

Maxine's mouth was dry. This was just fucking crazy. She needed to get back to her dorms or something... Blackwell never sounded so damn appealing in all her life.

"I-I think I should get going..." Maxine nervously uttered as she struggled to find footing, throwing the blanket back as Ray turned to face her.

"You still need to get your strength back first, Maxine... you've had barely five hours of consciousness these past few days"

No, Maxine didn't want to hear this, she wanted to get out before her heartbeat drowned out her thoughts. She just wanted to go home. Her shaking legs could be damned, they were going to carry her one way or another!

"L-look, it's not that I don't appreciate your help... but I have to go, I have people who will be worried about me- looking for me" Maxine's apprehensive tone was laced with something almost threatening towards the end. It wasn't intentional, she didn't mean to pass a judgement.

Ray let out a deflated sigh, and Maxine instantly felt like crap. Nice Maxine, real nice. Fix this, you idiot... she looked after you.

"Here" On her unstable feet Max pulled a wallet from her dirt caked hoodie after a brief and dusty pat down, flicking through the bills "For your help... t-thank you"

Ray got up and stepped closer, reaching out... only to push away the proffered cash. Maxine's face contorted in bemusement "There's no need... I did what any good person would do. I'm sure a nice girl like you would do the same"

Maxine used to know the answer to that question, but she nods meekly. A void of a moment passes.

"Well..." Ray begins "Seeing as you're going I ain't got no reason to stick around here. I'm going back to my spot at the Two Whales... You'll be passing that way, won't you?"

This woman just doesn't give up does she? Maxine's brows furrowed as she struggled to keep her foundation, her sleepy legs were slowly waking but not fast enough for her liking. She nodded again.

"I'll walk with you then, make sure you don't fall into traffic... I'm sure your legs will have woken up by then"

"I-" Maxine started, but she could tell the woman wasn't going to back down on this... plus she had a point, her legs were being douchebags at the moment. Reluctantly, she conceded "I-... fine. Thanks, Ray"

And away they went, leaving the Junkyard behind. It was strange... but Maxine had to look back as they left.

She felt tipsy, wobbling on legs that seemed to be slowly strengthening... and it reminds her of something. Of getting tipsy from one damn sip of Joyce's wine with Chloe... all that time ago. It's a thought that curls her lip faintly... to think, she was shotting vodka with the best of them now.

Yet there is something off. Moving away from the Junkyard like this? She didn't know... it felt... wrong?

No, Maxine put it from her mind. She had get back, she had to bang on Vicky's door and see if the girl was okay, but most importantly, she needed to toke up and sit in the shower for an hour. Or five.

* * *

Maxine and Ray split at the Two Whales.

The goodbye was short, offers of support given should Maxine need them. The woman was sweet, motherly despite it all, and yet Maxine hardly knew her.

It didn't stop her slipping ten bucks in Ray's pocket though. Good deeds for the sake of it weren't going to feed a woman like her, and who knows how much she gave up to help Maxine... such kindness had to be rewarded with something material.

The sight of the campus lights up Maxine's heart, its hammering beat suddenly decreasing as relief washed through her system. Blackwell. Never in her life did she ever think she would be this excited to see it.

But there it was again. That feeling. It held her for a moment as if time had frozen about her... it'd feel serene if it wasn't so dreadful.

It's nothing Maxine, just keep going.

Hesitantly she moved up those familiar steps and glanced around, basking in the glow of the midday sun as she admired this place she called home. That feeling sharpened then, as her eyes detected a certain lack of something.

Where was the Vortex Club?

"What the..." Maxine muttered to herself in bewilderment. There was always at least one of them by the tree or something, lounging about judging potentials... but this time? Zip. Nada. Surely in three days they couldn't have all decided that class was more important than skipping and getting their chemical on?

But hey, stranger things had happened. Best not to dwell on it.

Passing through a sea of unknown faces Maxine kept her own head down. She couldn't be seen like this. She was Maxine Caulfield, Vortex Club member; yet she looked like a god damn hobo.

Her cheeks burned and her pace quickened, eyes buried into the floor... like the old Maxine. A thought that made her grimace, the shy geek, a wallflower... all the things she never wanted to be again. It's too late to notice a body blocking her path to the dormitories until she collides with it.

"Hey, what the hell?" Maxine blurted in frustration the moment she saw a uniform "Skip, not today, this is not the time to-"

The man she was looking at was decidedly not Skip.

"Who are you?"

"I could ask the same of you" he replied, his voice lacking any mirth, much like his face. How could he not know who she was?

"I'm Maxine Caulfield" she said expectantly, but he only quirked a brow. Either unimpressed or ignorant "I'm with the Vortex Club"

"Too much of an attitude to be with those lot" he commented, matter-of-factly "Got your student ID, _Max?"_

And in an instant, Maxine's blood was boiling. This arrogant piece of shit! She just wanted to go to her room, not get reamed by some wannabe cop on a power-trip. But he wasn't moving, she could tell that by his stance alone; so far she had avoided eye contact, she wasn't about to make that connection now.

"Maxine" she hissed under her breath, fetching her student card from her wallet and handing it over to the oaf... Leonard, according his nametag. She'd remember that "Happy?"

Quietly he stood there, scrutinizing the card for a moment. Then he tore it up, and Maxine's heart skipped a beat.

"What the fuck!?" she bellowed.

"You honestly trying to sneak into campus with a fake ID? A shit one at that? Get out of here _Max_ before I throw you out"

He wasn't playing, Maxine could sense that. His sharp step towards her only cemented it.

"Wait, wait!" she fumbled "Get Skip, Skip knows me! He's security too!"

Leonard simply stared at her, brows knitted impatiently.

"There ain't no Skip working here, now let's go" his hands were on her then, sharply turning her before she was marched away... students began to gather. The humiliation was too much; her eyes began to sting with the beginnings of tears. Tears that sprung free when she was damn near shoved down the stairs with a yelp.

Her jelly legs could barely support her, like useless stilts, unable to stop her plummeting to the sidewalk as she frantically struggled to stay upright. Why was this happening to me? It's all she could think as she sat on the cold stone, utterly despondent.

I was supposed to be untouchable.

"Don't let me catch you on this campus again, y'hear me?" he threw the torn remnants of Maxine's student card at her, the two pieces fluttering down either side of her like butterflies "Or I'll knock you back to the future"

When he started to leave she felt a shadow disappear... not that it mattered. What was she going to do now? All she could think of was trying to speak to... hold on. Wait. What did he just say?

"Back to the future...?"

She could hear it again, quietly in the back of her mind rolling forward. Thunder.

"Wait!" Maxine called out and the guard stopped with a scowl, regarding her with narrowed eyes "What do you mean back to future?"

He stood there for a good moment as a series of emotions rolled across his awful mug, each more incredulous than the last. Finally he just laughed.

"Fire whoever made you that ID. It's not 2013, Timecop" The world seemed to pause then, the edges of Maxine's vision clouding with burning white. Leonard walked away, still laughing "It's 2008, you dumbass"

Maxine sits there for what feels like minutes, but the day has lived and died in that time. She wants to believe it's a lie, a cruel joke of a sadistic man. But she never sees a face she recognizes. No Hayden, no Taylor, no Nathan... no Victoria.

It feels real. Undeniably real.

All she can do is sob, even as she is forced away from the premises by a couple of guards. She doesn't see the figure by the monument watching her as she shuffles away like the walking dead... where she was going, she didn't know.

From a dying boombox, she hears that familiar tune... she moves quicker.

 _No escape from reality._

She feels a spark beginning within her, the sob in her throat turns to a growl.

"We'll see about that" she whispers, letting the feeling in her gut lead her to wherever it might.

We'll see.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi all, thanks for reading. If you liked it feel free to leave a review! More to come soon.


	2. Chapter 2: Walk With Me

Maxine's back felt shredded. Between her shoddy blanket, hard floor, and her inability to hold onto sleep, her body ached but her back was the centre piece of the pain; followed sharply by her head, which felt as though it had been punched repeatedly over the course of the night. It had been enough to drive her from the hideout once the morning light began to in, and wander crookedly through the garden of rust and tangled metal; there was no point lying on unwelcoming stone floors when rest was out of the question.

She had the dreams again, she know she did. They woke her several times in the night, yet she could never truly recall them despite the sharp clarity.

Maxine had tried, boy had she tried... but the dreams eluded her, each attempt to grasp them, study them, yielded only the briefest of success before they slipped free of her grasp like a wet bar of soap. Pop, and then gone. To say it was merely frustrating would not do it justice; she wanted or perhaps needed to remember them, remember why they forced her screaming back to reality... but like quicksilver, they were both poisonous and slippery.

She wandered for some time before she found a place to sit, and she had been there since... listening to the birds chirp and caw. It was comforting to a certain degree, much like the spot she had come to rest upon. Maxine wasn't sure why but she had felt drawn here, lead by invisible breadcrumbs, and had collapsed carefully to the grassy earth to rest the moment she arrived. Here she seemed the centre of a swirling breeze, cool and sometimes cold but yet... reassuring?

Maxine couldn't place it, but being sat here felt grounding, steady; Inevitable, almost. In this turbulent time, when even her memories seemed mercurial, Maxine took what she could get.

After all, she had to take something... she still couldn't believe it. 2008? Had the world gone mad? It couldn't be, it was just the sick joke of a twisted security guard and that was all it was. That had to be the case. And yet...

 _No. No don't even go there, Maxine._

A distraction would've been hella welcome. _Hella?_ Maxine felt weird, the word had just risen from the back of her mind and slipped itself past her filters... ugh, it didn't matter, it was just a word; grumbling she shrugged the intrusive blurt off and hugged her knees close.

After last night, there was literally nothing else she felt she could do. Not after she found her phone.

She had eagerly tried to put her mobile to good use despite the spider web crack that had spread itself across the length of the fragile screen. The poor thing looked like it had been licked by lightning, and it offered no solace; nor did it offer anything useful really, it didn't even offer a date and time... just a heap of zeroes where the digits and month had been.

Maxine tried her best not to think about that either, and after a few attempted calls being met with utter silence she pocketed the device and cursed the fact she had found it. Another little taunt from the Universe.

She had tried to call Victoria first with far more concern and longing than she realized. But Maxine knew... When in doubt? Shake up the hive and point at the thing you don't like... a douchbag guard came immediately to mind. It was good to have the Queen Bee in your corner; but the hive was silent. Nothing.

Next she tried to call Nathan, 'The Prince of Blackwell' as so often seemed to fit. With daddy's ill fitting crown he could be relied on to throw his weight around for her... and bludgeon those in his way with the very mantle he didn't seem to want. Maxine understood why, she'd heard the phone calls between him and his father. Nothing.

A period of despair separated the final call from the others. How could they not be there? They were her closest friends, they took her in, brought her up from a cliché geek to a god damn Queen amongst the student body. They had consumed everyday of her life since the day she stepped through Blackwell's doors... they were her safety net. They promised they'd be there.

But they were gone, and despite the fact Maxine knew she had no right to be upset, not after five years, she was morose. It wasn't until Maxine was plunging into that abyss that she realised there was another chance, another option! A forgotten net far below she hoped would catch her in her fall; taken for granted, but there.

Her parents, all the way up in Seattle. All the way in a life she didn't want to return to, choking on wallflower vines.

She didn't want to go back to that; she wanted to go to her actual home, back to her dorm... but deep within, a primal part of her had already hit dial before the Vortex swept Maxine back under its sway.

Alone and upset, that part of her blown deep down reared its head; that part she hated, that wanted what we all want when we're hurting, frightened and lost in a big scary world. A world that seemed ill content with anything but your misery; Our families.

But once again... Nothing. Not even a dial tone, same as the others. Maxine wasn't surprised, nor was she panicked. Saturnine eyes unfocused and she just sat there in her spot, welcoming the chill as she went numb to the world.

 _Wowser... I-I'm totally fucked, aren't I...?_

Maxine's hands slipped from beneath her gradually, lowering her back gently onto the surprisingly warm earth to stare into the azure of a cloudless sky. She settled into the long blades of grass, feeling it brush against her earlobes and fingers... hoping the ground would swallow her up and take her six feet deep where no one would ever find her. Where she could just forget the world and maybe, just maybe, wake up from the dark.

It seemed more likely the Junkyard would become her home now... how apt, lost within a maze of other broken and unwanted things; but of all the relics left here to fade from memory, it was the old school bus she often found herself staring at. It's once proud canary color had long since been corrupted to sun baked mustard; pock marked with moss-like patches of rust and flaked away paint.

It felt wrong, to see it here like this. Maxine found herself staring at it, unable to look away as old thoughts swam in her mind's eye... of times riding on a bus just like this. Shy _Max_ , shrunk on herself on the way to school... but she was not alone on those rides, she was never alone; by her side always was that smiling face, framed with that strawberry blond hair.

Nervous _Max_ never had to ride alone, because Chloe would never let that happen... she would be there, arm around Max's shoulders, letting her in on a secret booty that she had learned about. Chloe... always the good friend, the best friend. The friend that was always there.

 _Unlike me._

Those were better times, simpler; no cliques, just her and Chloe against the world. The sky then was as bright as it was now... but it didn't feel bright anymore. Those were better days, and lay there breathing in the scent of earth and dust Maxine longed for it with every inch of her soul. But they were gone now, and here Maxine was trying to make sense of it all. Alone.

She had always wanted to make things right with Chloe, to see her in the wake of what happened... but that felt inconceivable now. The thought of never getting that chance felt so impossibly like fact that it made Maxine's eyes sting with perplexed tears. It wasn't fair.

There was a hole in her mind, and it ached from the absence. She just wanted to know what was missing. She wanted to know why this, any of this, was happening.

The truth was right there, she knew it, locked away somewhere in her skull beneath the layers of storm clouds and shards of moments; trying to look through their broken remnants offered nothing but hurt. Yet she could just make something out... she saw sand.

And like a knife in the eye she paid the price for digging deep, and resisted the urge to thrash as the white hot pain seeped to the front of her head. Yet despite the pain she held a slither of hope.

She remembered something. But what did it mean? What di-

"Don't forget about me..."

Maxine bolted upright in fright as those words punctured the veil of silence and breached the hurt she felt, drifting on a breeze so soft there was no telling where it had come from. Had she imagined it? No, no that couldn't have been it... it was too real, and she knew that voice. She knew that voice anywhere.

"Chloe?" Maxine called out instinctively, dredging herself up from the roots she had hoped to grow, shaking off the dust as her adrenaline rose "Chloe where are you?"

There was no reply _. Chloe can't be here._ Words so resolute yet without basis they frightened Maxine more than the voice she heard. Head clasped in her hands, Maxine shook and desperately sought to prove herself wrong, hoping, praying to see Chloe again... but there was no one there. No one but herself.

In the emptiness of the forgotten space however, Maxine could almost see her... walking around with a swagger and a smirk. There was no chair, nor crutches... this was not the Chloe she knew, but it was the one she couldn't help but imagine; a punk with a bottle in hand... and cerulean locks.

This was not her Chloe, and yet this vivid figment felt right, made her smile in the face of the dread building in her gut. A nascent sense of something terrible began to dawn on her... perhaps a memory she wouldn't want to remember beginning to bloom here, now, in this moment. Maxine didn't know, and as she began to tremble she found her legs carrying her swiftly away from the broken serenity of her spot.

She had to get away and she felt it again; a pull, a lasso tugging her... or perhaps a hand nudging her along. All she knew is that she couldn't stay here... she had to be somewhere else.

She had to see it with her own two eyes. She had to try and figure this out... and as far from Chloe's spectre as she could get the better.

The Lighthouse was always gorgeous this time of year, stood strong against the vibrant rays of the sun, but as Maxine walked the scenic path of the beach, she couldn't look at it.

It didn't feel safe, didn't rouse the nostalgia she hoped. Instead it stood not as a hopeful beacon but a monolithic unknown. It felt calamitous and imposing now. Stay away, her gut warned... and stay away she would, as she didn't feel so inclined to test fate.

Instead she kept her gaze down, focused on the flowing path as she slowly made her way along, pulling her dirty hoodie tighter around her as the wind picked up just a touch.

The path was all hers. In the time she had spent aimlessly trundling along its length, she had not seen a soul in sight... even the beach was without life, yet that felt oddly correct. It had held her attention to ransom enough to slow Maxine a halt though, just for a moment, and truly study it.

Its golden span was pristine, lapped by calm tides that cast the faintest of vapour on the wind, chilling everything that drew close. Maxine didn't mind anymore... eyes too focused on aimlessly searching to be bothered in honesty.

The beach was missing _something_ , and it wasn't people, it was something else. It filled her with the most bizarre form of Deja Vu to be stood here, like it was only yesterday she was here... she could almost hear something, something deep and melodic, and it was only the feeling of something brushing against her leg that stopped her from zoning out entirely.

A cat was purring against her, affectionately vying Maxine's attention. Where it came from she had no idea, but she was already bending down to stroke it before she knew what was happening.

"Hey kitty... what're you doing out here, puddy tat?"

The cat purred, pushing fondly against Maxine's hands much to her delight while she checked for a collar. The feline was decidedly without one, and the urge to adopt the little critter became almost overwhelming; it sprung away lightly before she could act on this however, and left Maxine to grumble with dissatisfaction as she watched it scamper ahead.

Scamper ahead towards a group of girls she had failed to notice earlier, crowded around a bench a good thirty feet before her. Jeering.

Maxine tensed at the sight; it was all too familiar to her. Days in Seattle flashed in her mind's eye, those days without Chloe in her corner, filling her with spite. A spite that turned to anger when she saw through the bodies, to the girl at the heart of it all, and the hand that flew across her cheeks with a clap.

"Hey!" Maxine yelled instinctively, her heart hammering as she hurriedly began to move forward despite herself. She could almost hear Victoria yelling at her to stop being crazy "Leave her alone!"

Heads swivelled to face her in an instant, their eyes quickly darting amongst each other before the crowd dispersed like a pack of disturbed vultures. Maxine couldn't lie, to see them flee from her made her feel charged. Powerful. God how she _loved_ that feeling... It was like being with the Vortex again.

Quickly they disappeared up the path, calling back insults when they were at a safe distance; Maxine didn't pursue, slowing to a halt by the bench instead. _Fucking bullies..._

It looked like a crime scene. A backpack was strewn on the ground with torn school work and books laid splayed out with their pages cast about them like litter. _Those absolute bitches_... Maxine thought as she checked to make sure the girls were gone, seething. It was just her now, her and a girl she didn't know.

"Thank you... you didn't have to do that" the girl said, her face veiled by long and flowing chocolate hair as she bent down to collect the ruins of her stuff. Maxine joined her, helping collect a few books.

"It's okay... I hate bullies" Maxine's voice was soft, empathetic. She'd been this girl once before "Are you okay...?"

"Just another shitty day in Arcadia Bay, right?"

The girl looked up at her then, and Maxine blinked. She was beautiful. Had Maxine not spotted the two long blue feathers dangling from both ears, then her gaze would have remained locked entirely on those mahogany eyes. She knew those feathers; the sight of them was jarring, like the air was fluctuating around them, but... "Hey, you alright?"

Maxine came back to reality, cheeks burning "Yeah, yeah sorry" fumbling with the books she had collected the other girl chuckled quietly, brushing some hair behind her ear "So... do you know those asswipes?"

"No, not really anyway... they're just some jockstrap sniffing bitches hoping the Vortex Club will notice them" The wave of shame that washed over Maxine was almost enough to drown her, but girl continued "It's okay though... I'm kind of used to it by this point. I came here hoping to a bit of a break from their shit before class but... yeah. Didn't pan out"

"Blackwell can be rough..." the words were laced with something else, distant... Maxine didn't want to think about it. Was that the kind of stuff that happened? That she didn't see? _I mean, I know we could be assholes, but... Jebus..._ No, no it couldn't be the case.

"You go there? I haven't seen you around"

"I... I used to" it was all Maxine could think to say, rubbing her frail arm after handing the girl the stuff she had helped collect. A lot of seemed salvageable, fortunately. Her story didn't however, if the girl's expression was any indication "I-I... I Don't think I was cut out for it"

"Shame... a few people like you there would make it tolerable" the girl chuckled again, a sweet and quiet thing, and Maxine felt the tips of her ears warm just a little "Hey... I should probably get to class, but, do you think that maybe you'd like to walk with me? If you're not busy or anything?"

"Um... well, I-I..."

"Oh c'mon, walk with me... let me get to know my dashing knight" the girl smiled, and Maxine felt her hesitation crack under pressure.

"We'll... it's not that I don't want to- I'd love to!" Maxine blurted, catching herself much to the other girl's amused smile "But the dickhead guard there hates me, like super duper hates me"

"Oh, Leonard" the girl said with a weary tone, rolling her eyes "Yeah that jackass hates everyone... don't worry though, you won't get caught, I promise. I have my ways"

Maxine didn't doubt that for some reason. The girl had an all too familiar air about her... she found herself believing in her. Wary though Maxine was, what did she have to lose? She was literally living out of a god damn shack in a junkyard... still she felt apprehension. The girl was a stranger; this whole town felt strange to her now in fact, but... fuck it.

At the very least, maybe it'd get her past Leonard... into Blackwell. That alone was too much of an opportunity to miss; she was very much looking forward to choking the life out of Vic and Nate for being so unbelievably vacant in such a dire time. Fuck those guys, like seriously.

"Yeah... yeah okay, sure. Why not?" The way the brown haired girl smile said it all, and fighting the urge to bashfully fidget, Maxine averted her gaze "I'm Maxine by the way"

"I'm Sacheen... It's nice to meet you, Maxine"

Together they walked, watched by a cat in the nearby bushes as its tail swished contentedly. It looked like Maxine was heading to Blackwell one more time. It just felt nice to have to normality back... for as long as it would last.


End file.
